www.voicemagazine.org - The second part of AUSU's Voice Magazine's interview with Kinshuk (first part here) in which he talks about some of his rich ideas around smart learning, the interplay between digital technologies and pedagogies, fine-grained accreditation, and the...

We realize it had been a while since we have posted here, but now we are back!
In an effort to connect with our members, to get the word out about what is going in with AUSU and to provide full transparency, AUSU will be on the Landing...

Why are we relying on such a small peer group for feedback on our thesis ideas? This seems especially short-sighted given that Athabasca has a platform in place for connecting with the wider community.

medium.com - Hmm, there is no better article to kickstart this group activity (or maybe there is? ;). It's well known that OSX runs on BSD and it's got a lot of open source tools under the hood but with Microsoft open sourcing ASP.NET MVC, Web API, and Web Pages...

http://vinuxproject.org/ - Backtrace: http://wiki.vinuxproject.org/alpine_mutt
From home page:
Vinux is a Ubuntu derived distribution optimised for the needs of blind and partially sighted users. By default Vinux provides two screen-readers, Braille display support and a...

For those of you with PBS, they are airing a new program called "First Peoples" that starts tonight. http://www.pbs.org/first-peoples/home/ The first episode is about the first people in North America. It looks interesting!

www.independent.co.uk - The first question that emerges for a free, encrypted, ad-free, unsurveilled, intentionally private, celebrating anonymity, social networking site and mobile app like this is 'How does it make enough money to support itself'? The answer appears to...

In this post I’ll review and respond to two useful posts by Rebecca Hogue - Why you shouldn’t do Educational Design Research Part 1 and Part 2. First of all I think the title is quite misleading, in that my reading of it...

When I was preparing for the first assignment, I read the article “Inventing the University” by David Bartholomae. It got me thinking about my writing process during my time as an undergraduate student.
Bartholomae says that students...

deity.gov.in - "The Indian government announced a policy yesterday that makes it mandatory to use open-source software in building apps and services, in an effort to 'ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs.'" ...

www.voicemagazine.org - Vive Kumar waxes lyrical on the differences between online and face-to-face learning, the value of analytics, and the importance of culture and spirituality in learning. Good, thought-provoking stuff. I too get a bit sentimental about some of the...

www.pewinternet.org - Another fine Pew report on US attitudes to privacy etc. Everyone wants more, no one trusts that they are getting it. The US is a country that is singularly lacking in effective privacy legislation which is odd, given how much privacy appears to be...

A few days back, an email was sent to our ‘allstaff’ mailing list inviting us to join in a bocce tournament. This took me a bit of time to digest, not least because I felt impelled to look up what ‘bocce’ means (it’s an...

terrya.edublogs.org - Terry Anderson on an Estonian approach to assessing teacher competences (and other projects) using Elgg - the same framework that underpins the Landing. I've downloaded the tool they have developed, Digimina, and will be trying it out, not just for...

www.visual-literacy.org - Heather Scarlett-Ferguson from cohort 1, shared this excellent tool for thinking about ways that concepts- or final models and explanations in your final dissertation chapter can be displayed- Excellent resource!!

I am still thinking about one of the sources that I have used in my literature review. Thaiss (465) says he appreciates the courtesy of a Greek writer sending something to him in his language even though she could have written better in her...

The fall semester graduate grouped study courses in the Heritage Resources Management programs are still open for registration, but the deadline of August 8 is approaching quickly. For more information about these...

Unwanted gift: a few careless owners, many botched repair jobs, not firing on all cylinders, tarnished reputation, some wheels missing, but only slightly used.
A bargain for anyone with a 19th Century attitude to education, seeking thousands of...

inbI believe that a test that determines the intelligence of an AI should also determine it's usefulness. Even if we were to build the most sophisticated chat bot that can pass the Turing test with flying colors, that doesn't mean that the chat bot...

Techcrunch article by Jon Russell on how Facebook is pretending (very badly, like one unpracticed in the art) to be nice by opening up its Internet.org branch to a few more developers.
In case you are not familiar with this bit of exploitation of...

Yes - there's no doubt that they do their job ruthlessly well! But, just because the world needs money does not make money an end (or a justification) in itself. We have laws to prevent its precedence over ethics, albeit unevenly spread, not to...

Random posts from the last few months

I am still thinking about one of the sources that I have used in my literature review. Thaiss (465) says he appreciates the courtesy of a Greek writer sending something to him in his language even though she could have written better in her...

www.voicemagazine.org - The second part of AUSU's Voice Magazine's interview with Kinshuk (first part here) in which he talks about some of his rich ideas around smart learning, the interplay between digital technologies and pedagogies, fine-grained accreditation, and the...

Hello. Today, will be my last post for this course. I was very pleased to complete all my assigned work. In the English 177, I have learned proper grammar structures, formulation of paragraphs and sentences, and how to link my paragraphs to...

www.independent.co.uk - The first question that emerges for a free, encrypted, ad-free, unsurveilled, intentionally private, celebrating anonymity, social networking site and mobile app like this is 'How does it make enough money to support itself'? The answer appears to...

thenotebook.org - It all sounds so reasonable - reward kids with play money for behaving the way you want them to behave. It is certainly, as the article explains, way better than punishing kids to make them behave the way you want them to behave. But, like all such...

www.theprovince.com - You could look at the 'fact' that a third of American 8th grade students think Canada is a dictatorship as just another tragi-comic indictment of the US educational system, or of the blindness of the US to the existence or validity of any other...

www.newyorker.com - "The research, conducted by the University of Minnesota, identifies a virulent strain of humans who are virtually immune to any form of verifiable knowledge, leaving scientists at a loss as to how to combat them."
Marvellous.

www.futuristspeaker.com - Thomas Frey provides an analysis of current trends in education (and, more broadly, learning) and predicts a grim future for colleges and, by extension, schools and universities. This is not a uniformly well-informed article - Frey is clearly an...

Athabasca University’s Wellness Committee has joined our local Primary Care Network to host the premiere Muskeg Creek trail run, Sept. 19. If you haven’t taken in the majestic autumnal sights and scenery around Athabasca before, then it’s time to hit the Creek! This active-living initiative is the perfect venue to hit the trails with your […]

Athabasca University is officially safer – and a wee bit wealthier as as result. The Alberta Safety Council (ASC) recently proclaimed AU with its Certificate of Recognition (COR) status with respect to its current health-and-safety program. The ASC is a non-government, not-for-profit organization providing safety training in the areas of Workplace, COR, Children’s and Motorcycles. […]

Did you know that there are in-classroom options for Alberta students looking to take AU courses? The following AU grouped study (classroom) courses are available on-site at our partner locations for the Fall 2015 semester. Courses follow the traditional semester format and will run from September – December. For more information on dates and times, […]

In the early years of the Great Depression, thousands of unemployed homeless transients settled into Vancouver’s “hobo jungle.” The jungle operated as a distinct community, in which goods were exchanged and shared directly, without benefit of currency. The organization of life was immediate and consensual, conducted in the absence of capital accumulation. But as the […]

“I’d also like to see if I can’t make my own portrait in writing. First I start by saying that to my mind the same person supplies material for very diverse portraits.” ~ Vincent van Gogh, Arles, 1888 Vincent van Gogh’s life and work has been thoroughly studied by art critics, historians, and biographers. We […]

They say seven is a lucky number. Perhaps that’s why the recent Athabasca University Master of Health Studies graduate, Gregory Toffner, decided to finally finish his seven years of studies while working the C-Suite level of the Hamilton-based, Ontario Association of Medical Radiation Sciences. Toffner, 39, says getting his MHS while juggling two jobs, a […]

By Heidi Staseson One of Athabasca University’s own is making waves in the Canadian literary scene. Dr. Tracey Lindberg is a professor of Indigenous Studies in the Centre for World Indigenous Knowledge and Research (where she is also a Canada Research chair), and a professor of law at the University of Ottawa. She’s the recipient […]

In May of 1868, Elizabeth Bingham Young and her new husband, Egerton Ryerson Young, began a long journey from Hamilton, Ontario, to the Methodist mission of Rossville. For the next eight years, Elizabeth supported her husband’s work at two mission houses, Norway House and then Berens River. Unprepared for the difficult conditions and the “eight […]

Athabasca University has received $40,000 in research grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). On Monday, June 22, NSERC announced the results of the 2015 Discovery Grants, scholarships and fellowships competitions in Oshawa at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. NSERC awarded AU a pair of Discovery Development […]

June 22, 2015 - 11:58am

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